By Faith: Going Home

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Ask travelers “Where is home?” and they will not point to the tent or hotel room in which they are staying. They will mention the name of their country, town, or city instead.

Abraham lived in a tent. So did his son Isaac and grandson Jacob. These were people on the move. Ask them, “Where’s home? Describe your neighborhood,” and they may well have shrugged their shoulders. They had no fixed address, except for the region God had called them to. In their lifetime the land they were in (Canaan) never got beyond being a land of promise. They were looking forward “to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

Where is your home? If all you can answer is an earthly city and street address, you have missed the point the writer of Hebrews is making. Christians are Abraham’s spiritual offspring. We have no more permanent home in this world than he did. Home points to the future, our life in God’s presence forever. Home summons us to lift up our eyes of faith to see that we are citizens of the kingdom of God. Home is where Jesus is. Home is where God is and where the New Jerusalem, the city of his kingdom, has fully come. Home is a new earth under a new heaven.

And it is coming. Believe it!

Father, help us not to get so comfortable that we fail to look or long for anything better. By faith help us look forward to the city you have built. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.